Timbuck's "Ukulele Workshop" closed until the "Tour De France" is over:D.

Pegasus Guitars

07-15-2017, 12:26 PM

Ken-That's cool! We don't get much coverage of the tour in the U.S. At 71 I still ride, but don't spend much time on bikes anymore. Most of my life I've been a serious recreational road, and later Mt. biker. Would love to actually be at a Mountain stage of the tour. You're right. The hell with work, if you can watch the Tour!

Pete Howlett

07-15-2017, 05:56 PM

Sell some wood to fnance a trip to France Bob :)

Pegasus Guitars

07-16-2017, 03:34 PM

2 problems with that. The number of builders buying wood has dropped off markedly and the supply of koa has dropped off more than markedly. I personally think, having been a builder for over 40 years and having supplied builders with wood, tuners, pickups, etc. for almost 30 years that the booming uke building cycle may be coming to an end. Here in Hawaii I don't see many new builders at all. That leaves more time to watch the Tour and Wimbledon, which is just fine.

sequoia

07-16-2017, 07:39 PM

...the booming uke building cycle may be coming to an end. Here in Hawaii I don't see many new builders at all..

All musical instrument popularity cycles tend to wax and wane. Anyone remember the zither craze of the 1950's or the lute craze of the 15th century? Me neither, but the latest ukulele resurgence has legs I think. My perspective is limited, but the ukulele here in California is still surging and demand growing. I attribute this to teaching the uke in schools and the ultimate portability of the instrument. Also players are looking to trade up from their cheap Asian imports. It saddens me to hear that the demand and popularity might be waning in Hawaii, the birth place of this instrument. Get the things into your schools! The future is with the kids. Always was always is.

Michael N.

07-17-2017, 12:59 AM

Lute lasted a bit more than the 15th century, 300 years at the very least.
I don't know if less wood is being bought or that there's an enormous amount of people selling the stuff now. Back in the early 80's you tended to buy from a very few specialised suppliers, almost always in the country in which you reside. I now can name 10 different countries that I personally have bought wood from. The internet has seen to that.

Graham Greenbag

07-17-2017, 03:18 AM

.... the latest ukulele resurgence has legs I think. My perspective is limited, but the ukulele here in California is still surging and demand growing. I attribute this to teaching the uke in schools and the ultimate portability of the instrument. Also players are looking to trade up from their cheap Asian imports.

Get the things into your schools! The future is with the kids. Always was always is.

Playing the Uke will not appeal to everyone, there's a limited number of Ukes that players can buy and house and Ukes have a reasonably long life (assuming that they are cared for). At some point sales will inevitably plateau, well if the previous sentence proves to be true.

Music in schools is the key to keeping music live. From my recollection and experiences here in the UK the teaching of music is rather flawed and hence not at all popular with the children. The Uke is on answer to that, give the kids a Uke and a song book and then build interesting lessons around popular music, stuff they like and relate to. But I divert the conversation and there is a great thread about this already (How to get them to sing, I think).

Have a great break Ken. Really though, with the current run of good weather here, instead of watching others shouldn't you be out on your own bike instead?

Rllink

07-21-2017, 09:09 AM

Playing the Uke will not appeal to everyone, there's a limited number of Ukes that players can buy and house and Ukes have a reasonably long life (assuming that they are cared for). At some point sales will inevitably plateau, well if the previous sentence proves to be true.

Music in schools is the key to keeping music live. From my recollection and experiences here in the UK the teaching of music is rather flawed and hence not at all popular with the children. The Uke is on answer to that, give the kids a Uke and a song book and then build interesting lessons around popular music, stuff they like and relate to. But I divert the conversation and there is a great thread about this already (How to get them to sing, I think).

Have a great break Ken. Really though, with the current run of good weather here, instead of watching others shouldn't you be out on your own bike instead?
Not for everyone, but that isn't new. Ukuleles have been around for a long time, and even though a lot of ukuleles ended up in attics and closets along the way, people are still playing them. Ukulele players are never going to go extinct. I think that there is always going to be people buying ukuleles.

Timbuck

07-23-2017, 04:30 AM

Not long to go now..And then it's back to building a couple of sopranos starting first thing tomorrow .. Froome did it again:cheers: .. and I think the French were very impolite booing our Chris just because he beat the Frenchman Bardet in the time trial..time to stick two fingers up at e'm again I think.:nana::nana::nana:

resoman

07-23-2017, 06:38 AM

I thought it was a pretty interesting tour. Booing Chris, no class.
Congratulations to Mr. Froome on his win!!! His 4th now I think

mountain goat

07-26-2017, 04:31 AM

Not long to go now..And then it's back to building a couple of sopranos starting first thing tomorrow .. Froome did it again:cheers: .. and I think the French were very impolite booing our Chris just because he beat the Frenchman Bardet in the time trial..time to stick two fingers up at e'm again I think.:nana::nana::nana:
surely you're not claiming a Kenyan as a Brit mr timms?

Timbuck

07-26-2017, 07:07 AM

surely you're not claiming a Kenyan as a Brit mr timms?
He was Born in Kenya Granted...But He's British to the core ;)

Froome was born on 20 May 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya, the youngest of three boys to mother Jane and English father Clive, a former hockey player who represented England at under-19 level. His mother's parents had emigrated from Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England to Kenya to run a crop farm. Froome's two older brothers, Jonathan and Jeremy, went to Rugby School in Warwickshire, England.

Froome, whose parents are British, was born in Kenya and grew up there and in South Africa, and has ridden under a British licence since 2008. In 2007, at the age of 22, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia